HiFiMAN RE-400 and HM-901 - Head-Fi TV - Page 3

The EF-6 is a great amp with the th-900s and akg 701s....but I specifically bought them to drive the HE-6s with demanding classical music and they failed. Cracks, clips, smears, congestion...you name it. If you double the power of the EF-6 maybe you'll be able to drive the HE-6 adequately with it...what was Fang thinking?

We have had the EF-6 out for more than year and it has been positively reviewed with the HE-6s. First time we have ever heard that EF-6 could not drive HE-6 and needs twice the power. Have you expressed this to Fang?

We have had the EF-6 out for more than year and it has been positively reviewed with the HE-6s. First time we have ever heard that EF-6 could not drive HE-6 and needs twice the power. Have you expressed this to Fang?

Dun dun DUH *dramatic musical ques*

I've heard good things about teh ef-6 as well... I'd like to see how this failure fleshes out :O

We have had the EF-6 out for more than year and it has been positively reviewed with the HE-6s. First time we have ever heard that EF-6 could not drive HE-6 and needs twice the power. Have you expressed this to Fang?

oh I review it positively with the akg701s, Denton ad7000s, and Fostex TH900s. This is the reason I decided to keep the EF-6 amp. I love big orchestral and choral classical music works (e.g., Mahler and Bruckner) and Operas. These works will stress an amp's capabilities to the max. I use the dies irae section of the Robert Shaw recording of Verdi's Requiem ( Telarc label) as a measure of an amp's capacity with classical. In this recording the timpani just splatter and distort when using the HE-6 headphones driven be the EF-6. This section of the recording is handled with aplomb by my other amps (I.e., grace 902; headroom Max desktop amp, burson soloist, decware taboo) driving the LCD2, hd800, T1, Fostex th900, Denons...you name it. The EF-6 is also able to drive the aforementioned headphones with aplomb. So the only conclusion I can reach is that the amp that Fang specifically design with the HE-6 in mind is not sufficient to drive the headphones. Maybe if you listen to the music at rather low volumes you won't hear the distortions; maybe if the music lacks the presence of wide dynamic swings you won't notice it. Maybe if you listen to Mozart string quarters or jazz piano trios you won't notice it....but when the music gets high, hot, heavy, and wild YOU WILL NOTICE IT! The problem might be that the amp are never tested with such demanding music at higher volume levels for the amp engineers to notice or even care. In my opinion the HE-6 requires much more power than the EF-6 can swing. That is why people get vintage receivers to drive these headphones...because they know that many many watts are required to adequately drive them. Thus, this is the reason why the EF-6 cannot adequately drive the HE-6 with the music i like to listen to.

Thanks for this interview, it's pretty great that Fang is engaging with the community like this.

I would like to say something about the interview though. This is not meant as a criticism, but as a suggestion: Fang only said a few sentences during that whole interview, and I feel he was not given the space to say his thing. I realise he is not a native English speaker, and probably not a particularly extroverted person, so this kind of interview is certainly not the easiest, but I think Jude was talking too much. Perhaps this is the American style, loud and fast, but I would prefer an interview style that gives the guest a soapbox.

Also, more appropriate questions should have been asked. I learned nothing new about the RE-400. I would have like to hear Fang wax lyrical about why he feels this product has swept aside the rest of their IEM line. Ok, it's got a titanium driver, great, but they spent three years researching this design, surely he has an anecdote or two to about this research and the product s resulted in. Those are the critical questions, what is this thing, why is it better than its predecessors? We all knew it was available and what it cost.

Anyway, I'm not trying to bash, I enjoyed the interview, but I'm thirsty for details, and I feel the interviewing style could improve if the interviewee is given more space to speak.

Soooo.... Now that we're in Mid-April... Any word on the eagerly awaited and somewhat delayed HM-901? Both your video interview and previous press releases (still on Engadget) have all stated a March release for the player and April release for the dock.

There isn't even a mention of the 801 or 901 anymore on the HiFiman website... as if they really don't exist (unless you search for the 801 Amplifier modules).

Also any word if the production unit's default amp will be able to drive the HE-500's in both Unbalanced and Balanced? I see there's a balanced/unbalanced switch.